EDITORIAL: Outbreak was result of circumstances, not malice or negligence

Published: Tuesday, November 13, 2012 at 06:42 PM.

Shortly after the E. coli story broke some weeks back, we cautioned against hyperbole, blame and hysteria.

Unfortunately, there were too many examples of all those things, and the frequent target was the management of the Cleveland County Fairgrounds.

Now we find out, in the wake of an exhaustive state investigation, that Fair Manager Calvin Hastings and his staff did everything by the book — the cause of the E. coli outbreak was animals from a petting zoo in Tennessee combined with unusually prolific rains during the Cleveland County Fair.

This story is part of a sad pattern we see in our world right now — when bad things happen, there must be a cause, a villain, a scapegoat. Then, when the cause isn’t immediately determined and addressed, it must be because of some negligence of poor planning.

This is wrong and dangerous.

Yes, sometime proper precautions are not taken.

But often, we must learn to accept the reality that bad things happen. Hurricanes hit below-sea-level cities such as New Orleans or towns on the Jersey shore, and there is no way to prepare for the storm surge that follows.

Shortly after the E. coli story broke some weeks back, we cautioned against hyperbole, blame and hysteria.

Unfortunately, there were too many examples of all those things, and the frequent target was the management of the Cleveland County Fairgrounds.

Now we find out, in the wake of an exhaustive state investigation, that Fair Manager Calvin Hastings and his staff did everything by the book — the cause of the E. coli outbreak was animals from a petting zoo in Tennessee combined with unusually prolific rains during the Cleveland County Fair.

This story is part of a sad pattern we see in our world right now — when bad things happen, there must be a cause, a villain, a scapegoat. Then, when the cause isn’t immediately determined and addressed, it must be because of some negligence of poor planning.

This is wrong and dangerous.

Yes, sometime proper precautions are not taken.

But often, we must learn to accept the reality that bad things happen. Hurricanes hit below-sea-level cities such as New Orleans or towns on the Jersey shore, and there is no way to prepare for the storm surge that follows.

Health problems strike for no reason other than bad luck.

If we are going to spend all of our time safeguarding against what’s possible, then we will spend all our time in preparation and no time at all living life.

We should also remember that we live in a nation that was built on personal responsibility and liberty. Sometimes we forget to do things to protect ourselves, but that shouldn’t be a license to blame others when something goes wrong.

Finally, a word about the fairgrounds and its leadership.

We can all debate the role of the fairs in our state and region.

But there is no debating that Fair Manager Calvin Hastings and this team cares about Cleveland County and the region. While the most painful suffering through this tragedy has been by those who suffered from E. coli, Hastings and Co. have also had to deal with their beloved institution being at the center of the storm.

We are relieved — but not surprised — that the state investigation cleared the fairgrounds of wrongdoing.